Leonia bans shortcuts for out-of-towners

The New Jersey town of Leonia has declared that out-of-towners are no longer welcome to use its roads during rush hour and streets used as shortcuts to the nearby George Washington Bridge have been closed to outsiders.

Beginning Monday, out-of-towners will no longer be able to drive through Leonia, New Jersey as a shortcut to get to the George Washington Bridge.

For many drivers who use apps like Google Maps or Waze on their way to the GWB, they’re directed to use the tiny borough in Bergen County as a cut-through. It’s something which causes major traffic for locals, and those locals have decided it is time to put a stop to it.

“It’s become super congested, where you don’t want to go too far just because it could take you 20 minutes to go somewhere a few miles,” said Daniel Petrocelli of Leonia.

“I have a little brother who’s 3 years old. and when he’s playing in the front yard and there’s a bunch of traffic in the street, it’s scary.,” said Marta Lystvak of Leonia.

The ordinance banning the use of Leonia as a shortcut was approved by Leonia’s city council last month and goes into effect Monday.

Out-of-town drivers will be banned from 60 streets during the morning and evening rush. Violators will be slapped with a $200 fine.

“Starting tomorrow morning, if a driver pulls up the Waze app, they will not be recommended to turn on any of our side streets because they will show up as restricted access streets,” Zeigler said. “The other apps are working to do the same thing.”